Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 February 15

= February 15 =

Name for project
I'm working on a project that involves controlling a small robot (the iRobot roomba) using the Microsoft Kinect. I'm supposed to name the project but I can't think of a witty enough title. The best I could come up with were: Kinect-ed and Force Roomba but they're not good enough.

Can anyone come up with a better idea? Extra points if it involves a pun.

Thanks in advance. Hasanclk (talk) 01:49, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * By "extra points", do you mean a 10 percent sales commission? :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:59, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Haha, if this ever goes into production, then sure, I'll give the creator of the name a call before I start marketing it. Hasanclk (talk) 02:03, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Kinoomba? - that's the best I can come up with. Will it still clean the carpet, as its ancestors once did? AndyTheGrump (talk) 02:06, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm designing a stripped down version, but yes, the robot can have any attachment added to it. So it could clean the carpet, wash your floors etcetera. Hasanclk (talk) 02:10, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Any attachment? Can it make smoothies? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:19, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Hook up a blender to it, and sure, it'll make you a smoothie while vacuuming your carpet. Thanks for all the help Bugs. Hasanclk (talk) 02:24, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Now if I could only come up with a name for your product. A right-brain is a terrible thing to waste. :( ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:31, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * I like the sound of Kroomba. Kroooooom-ba. But it's not very witty. How about Sputnik 4? (There were only 3 Sputniks, not counting the 40th anniversary editions.) --Mr.98 (talk) 02:13, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Vaknik? (or add a potato peeler, and call it Spudnik :D ) AndyTheGrump (talk) 02:40, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I like it. :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:42, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Or perhaps a little Serbo-Croat might be useful: Radnik: "1. a worker, laborer 2. employee. (or if it doesn't work, Neradnik ) AndyTheGrump (talk) 02:59, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Roombot K1, Kindroid, iSevak - manya (talk) 03:29, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * No use of the "Kinect" name (other than the indirect video-game reference), but how about Goomba? Deor (talk) 12:27, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * iKiRoomba. You could try and license Bart Simpson shouting that name: "Aye Ca Roomba!" --Quartermaster (talk) 13:54, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Good Spot - Since your software controls the moving robotic vacuum cleaner like a dog (where "Spot" is a common dog name) and, once controlled, the previously free roaming dog becomes a good dog, and "spot" also can refer to a spot on the floor that becomes good once cleaned, "Good Spot" seems to fit. From tess2.uspto.gov the Good Spot name seems available for a product such as yours. If you use this name or a name inspired by this name, please donate what ever amount you think reasonable to Wikipedia. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 14:36, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Dr. Roombotnect? Especially if it has some sort of medical attachment. I'll get my coat. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 15:35, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

iRobot? Hotclaws (talk) 15:43, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
 * iRobot is actually the name of the company that makes the Roomba, so that probably won't work. -- LarryMac  | Talk  16:20, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * As it is in our list of cross-linguistic onomatopoeias: Vroom ba. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 18:41, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Is the Roomba marketed in France as the Salsa (Salle-sa)? Clarityfiend (talk) 23:25, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Don't know, but maybe they dance the Roomba at Moomba. It's happening soon, so come on down.  :)  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  02:52, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I think the Vacuumatron-9000 has a nice ring to it. Googlemeister (talk) 20:04, 16 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Kinectfor Bot? Nil Einne (talk) 17:36, 17 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Natalla, a feminine-sounding name that incorporates Natal, which was Microsoft's code name for Kinect before they came up with the name Kinect. Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:54, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

I want to know is Delhi a State or Union Territory??
I want to know is Delhi a State or Union Territory?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.162.241.241 (talk) 13:48, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Our Union Territory article covers this nicely. Don't forget to search before asking a question - you'll usually get the answer much more quickly! Warofdreams talk 15:03, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Residential escalators
Are there any all-residential buildings with escalators? --84.61.155.241 (talk) 17:53, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, I'm sure there are, especialy in the LA Basin. In The Big Bang Theory the building tis this way(however the elevator has been, is, and probably will remain broken). Sumsum2010 · T · C · Review me!  00:25, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure I'm following your Big Bang reference. Since the destruction of the elevator, the only way to travel between floors in Leonard's building is via good old-fashioned stairs.  What escalator are you thinking of? TenOfAllTrades(talk) 01:32, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Sorry! I read it quickly and thought the question said "elevators". Sumsum2010 · T · C · Review me!  02:08, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Now that I see my mistake; I do not think there are any, as they require so much space. Sumsum2010 · T · C · Review me!  02:08, 16 February 2011 (UTC)


 * I'd have thought (WP:OR warning!) that escalators would be rather inefficient in a residential building - you have to have an 'up' and a 'down' one for each floor, and they need to keep running all the time. They are much more efficient in moving large numbers of people over considerable distances: e.g. the London Underground ones - even with these, if there are more than two available, they tend to shut duplicated ones down during off-peak hours. AndyTheGrump (talk) 02:32, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, that might kind of the point. How rich do you have to be to do things efficiently, after all?
 * I would have one long staircase just going up
 * And one even longer going down
 * And one more going nowhere, just for show --Tevye
 * --Trovatore (talk) 03:07, 16 February 2011 (UTC)



Spending Coins versus Notes
To begin - this is not going to be a racist comment. I am simply curious to know if anyone can explain something I saw today in a British Supermarket whilst queuing for my turn at the checkout. There was an Asian family at the head of the queue doing a very large shop and filling their trolleys and baskets. When the cashier told them the cost, they all - men and women - began hunting in their wallets, purses, and pockets - and paid their bill entirely with British one-pound coins - oodles of them. When they had left and it was my turn, I said jokingly to the cashier that they looked as though they had won big-time on a slot machine. But she turned to me and said, quite matter of factly, that it was quite common, if not the norm, for Asian people to do that. Like I said, this is not intended to be racist in any way, and if the cashier hadn't said what she did, I probably wouldn't have given this a second thought. Just curious. 92.30.155.5 (talk) 19:41, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * The most obvious explanation would be that, in your area, Asian families are likely to own laundromats. (Or maybe they are called laundrettes in the UK.) If not laundromats/laundrettes, my guess would be that they own some other retail business using coin-operated equipment.  Marco polo (talk) 20:25, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Marco polo makes an interesting suggestion, which I can't add to, but I have had a very similar experience that is mysterious to me as well: When I was in high school (in the US), I worked in the box office at a movie theater, in those days (early 2000s) we only accepted cash, so I processed thousands of cash transactions (sometimes over $10k in a day.  After a busy weekend, the cash room would have well over $300k in mostly small bill cash, but that is another story).  I noticed that Caucasians almost never used bills larger than $20, however Latinos would frequently use $100 bills.  My speculation at the time was that it had something to do with some culture aversion to ATMs (most of which only give out $20s), but I really didn't (and still don't) have any idea.  I think the short (bad) answer is that different cultures deal with money in different ways, but I'd be interested if anyone can give any further details. -- Daniel  20:33, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I have no idea if this is accurate for your circumstances in the theater or not but people who do not have a checking or savings account will often get their paychecks cashed at grocery stores and the like. The store will often cash their checks using large bills such as $100s.  Let's say you make $500 in a week, it's a lot easier to carry around a few $100s rather than 25 $20 bills.  So, maybe in your area, the Latinos were predominantly in these circumstances.  Dismas |(talk) 20:41, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I'll equally try to find a local industry - ethnic group link. If you live in a small place, even one single company, if it's big enough, can have an impact in the behavior of the people. Construction workers often get paid in cash, if they get paid $300 each week on Friday, it is normal to try to pay $100 on the weekend. Another point are Chinese in Europe managing 1€/article shops (the name varies). tThat would explain several Chinese carrying loads of €1 coins. The funny part is that members of this group are probably not aware of they paying with a different payment mean. Quest09 (talk) 18:05, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
 * By the way, "Asian" in a UK context means South Asian: Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan. In the 2001 Census classification, used by most public bodies, "Chinese" didn't come under the general Asian/Asian British heading. Unlikely to be construction workers, who are paid into bank accounts, by cheque or in banknotes. Pound shop owners/managers is a possibility, but wouldn't they shop at the cash-and-carry rather than a supermarket? Itsmejudith (talk) 12:57, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Why wouldn't pound shop owners shop at a supermarket? I don't have much UK-experience, but some big supermarket chains like Sainsbury's and Tesco are known for their amazing low prices, comparable to wholesales chains. Quest09 (talk) 17:33, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Expect/Unexpected
Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected become the expected? --GlennRichardAllison Mr. 900 Jr. bowling —Preceding undated comment added 20:50, 15 February 2011 (UTC).


 * No.TMCk (talk) 21:03, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * See Unknown known. Matt Deres (talk) 21:15, 15 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes, but only in general terms. You can expect the unexpected in general, but you won't know specifically what to expect. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 13:34, 16 February 2011 (UTC)